


Runaway Red

by Sephypsycologist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, this is Boss (bad pap) not Edge (good pap)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2019-09-20 17:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17027199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephypsycologist/pseuds/Sephypsycologist
Summary: Red ran away from his timeline (where his brother abused him) and ended up with Honey and Blue, who adopted him as their new brother.





	1. home interrupted

Red trudged along in the snow outside Snowdin. Not his Snowdin, not the one full of people who’d throw shit at him and call him names and punch him in the gut just for a laugh because let’s all pick on the fat skeleton. No, he was in a different world. 

A world where Papyrus meant that lazy orange beanpole who joked around with him and called him bro and had quickly become his best friend. And Sans was the slightly shorter, thinner, more energetic blue version of himself. Here his name was Red, and he liked that.

He liked it a lot better, being greeted with smiles and genuine happiness instead of scowls. And Papyrus was so much preferable to…to Boss. Just thinking about his actual brother made Red’s soul squeeze tight enough to make him grip his sweater over it. Geeze it hurt, but he both missed him and never wanted to see him again. His Papyrus had smacked him around, called him useless, made fun of his anxiety and figure constantly….but he was his brother. His only family, and the person who kept the other monsters of Snowdin from actually dusting the 1-hp wonder.

It was hard, all these mixed up feelings. But since he’d fixed his machine and used it to escape here….things were good. He was happy and cared about and…and safe. It was safe here.

Or it was until Red heard that dreaded voice echoing from the forest just as he passed the Gyftmas tree in the town square, “SANS!”

–

Papyrus had never seen Red run so fast before. He’d barely had time to see the blur of crimson and black zip up into the guest room before the door shut. Closing the front door, he teleported upstairs and sat on the floor next to the bed, where his brother’s edgey doppelganger was shuddering and whimpering, “what happened? red, talk to me.”

“paps, the boss is here! i dunno how, but i heard him yellin’ and the other people on the street reacted so it can’t’ve just been a hallucination or nothin!” The words spilled out in a hurried, shaky torrent before the lump of covers moved to show that Red’s eyes had gone out, replaced with the single burning orb in his left socket that signaled he was in fight or flight mode. “he’s gonna dust me for sure for runnin’ away. stars, paps, help me!”

Oh stars, this is bad news. Papyrus had only a little time before his angry double would be here and….he had an idea, but it was probably a bad one. But the harsh knocking on the door didn’t give him time to find a better one.

“okay, red, this is gonna sounds stupid but…”

—–

When Boss walked in (pushing past Sans who had opened the door), he growled, “WHERE IS HE?”

“WHERE IS WHO?” Sans asked, amazed at this very scary looking version of his brother. “MAYBE INTRODUCTIONS ARE IN ORDER FIRST? I’M-”

“I DON’T CARE, YOU FUCKING MORON,” Boss roughly shoved the smaller skeleton, who fell over. “TELL ME WHERE THAT IDIOT SANS IS OR I’LL DUST YOU!”

“hey, easy.”

Boss turned slowly, glaring more at this slouchy, orange version of himself who had appeared on the couch. “WHO ARE YOU AND WHY SHOULD I CARE WHAT YOU SAY?”

“well, i suppose you can call me honey, if you like.” Papyrus smirked, “since you and me both technically have the same name.”

“YOU STILL DIDN’T ANSWER ME, BITCH.”

Papyrus winced at the language, but just continued, “i was getting there. you should care because i’m the guy in charge around here. or at least up to waterfall anyway.”

Sans was looking very upset, scuttling over to stand by the couch. “IF WE COULD MAYBE JUST-”

“CAN IT!” Boss snapped, “ANYBODY WHO LOOKS LIKE MY FUCKING STUPID BROTHER SHOULD BE SILENT OR DIE!”

This made the blue clad monster begin to tear up, but he set his jaw and glared back at this very rude guest.

Papyrus sat up a bit, “c’mon, don’t curse at my brother, please.”

“MAKE ME,” Boss replied smirking, “AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, GROW A SPINE. YOU’RE DISGUSTINGLY FAT AND LAZY, CLEARLY, JUST LIKE SANS.”

The orange skeleton sighed, his hands sliding into his hoodie pocket, though the movement was hard with how tight the fabric was stretched. “okay, i get it. you’re a tough guy. so what was it you want?”

Boss summoned a large, sharpened femur as he spoke, “I CAME HERE TO DUST MY USELESS BROTHER FOR DARING TO SHIRK HIS DUTIES. HE’S BEEN GONE FOR WEEKS, AND HE CAME HERE.” Looming over the brothers, Boss hissed, “NOW WHERE IS HE?”

Sans felt his brother wince beside him, and took it on himself to chase off this threat, “WE HAVEN’T SEEN ANYBODY BESIDES YOU. YOU’RE BEING VERY RUDE AND SHOULD LEAVE.”

That femur missed Sans’ skull by a sliver. “I TOLD YOU TO BE SILENT, WHELP. DO NOT MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF.” Boss’ sockets were glowing red with magic, and this was enough to make Papyrus stand.

“get out. we don’t have your brother, and you aren’t going to threaten my brother in our own home,” his own right socket lit up with orange, and he summoned a gaster blaster. The massive skull hovered there menacingly, but it was enough.

Boss huffed and walked out the door without another word.

—

As soon as the angry intruder was gone, Papyrus flopped back on the couch and groaned, “oh stars, standing was not a good idea.”

“PAPY!” Sans hurried to his side and fidgeted, “WHERE IS RED, BY THE WAY? HE NEEDS TO GET AWAY!”

“right here, bro.” Papyrus sighed, suppressing a hiccup, “oooh, gosh, red, stop squirming. he’s gone.”

Sans’ sockets widened softly, “OH! OH I SEE. LET ME HELP!” The little skeleton clambered up onto the far end of the couch and snuggled up to his brother carefully. “RED, PLEASE, DO CALM DOWN. WE WON’T LET THAT FOUL MOUTHED RUFFIAN HURT YOU.”

The response was muffled sobbing, and both brothers frowned worriedly.

“red, buddy, it’s okay. he’s gone.” Papyrus murmured, rubbing slowly where he could feel Red’s back. “you’re safe. we’re not giving you up.”

“INDEED.” Sans began rubbing, too, wanting to help. “WE’RE GOING TO PROTECT YOU.”

“ya shouldn’t have to,” Red’s voice came to them, broken and choked with tears, “stars, he’s my younger brother and i shouldn’t have’ta be scared of ‘im.”

Sans could feel Red shaking, even through the membrane of his brother’s stomach, “OH, OH, RED, WE’RE….WE WANT TO HELP. YOU’RE VERY RIGHT, BUT WE HAVE TO FOCUS ON HELPING YOU FIRST.”

Papyrus kept rubbing at Red’s back, but his face was set in deep thought. He was going to figure out some way to keep his new brother safe, and show that overbearing mirror of his a thing or two about how to treat other people. But that was later. He’s have to calm Red down first. “sans’ right, bro. you’re the one getting hurt here, so you get priority. so just let it out and we’ll figure out something.”

“YES, THERE IS NO SHAME IN TEARS,” Sans added, now snuggled close to his brother’s side and trying his best to send all his love and support to Red, “YOU ARE HOME AND SAFE WITH US. THE MAGNIFICENT SANS WILL MAKE SURE HIS NEW BROTHER IS JUST AS SAFE AND HAPPY AS ANYONE ELSE HERE.”

Red’s crying was quiet but deep, and it took an hour more of soothing and talk before he’d calmed enough to be let out.


	2. Heist (prequel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> co-posted to another work of mine since it was part of a series
> 
> Red had to get energy to leave that awful place

Stealth was the name of the game.

If he could get downstairs and avoid the traps, he could get to the fridge.

It had been days since he’d been able to eat properly. His brother had snapped after finding out about his illegal stand, saw it as an embarrassment for him as the captain of the guard.

He’d been living on Boss’s food schedule, which was ONE STINKIN’ MEAL a day! And it wasn’t even good, filling food, no, it was a single fruit and granola bowl, plain, with water.

Red winced as his stomach growled in complaint at the thought of the measly pittance he’d been giving to it. “i know, i know, but it’s either that or nothin’ right now.” His clothes were already loose from the deprivation, but hopefully he’d be able to get something tonight.

He couldn’t go overboard either, or Boss would find out. If worst came to worst, he’d lock himself in his lab and finish his machine, go somewhere else. He didn’t even care if it dusted him instead of transporting at this point. His life was over either way if Boss found out he’d stolen food.

So his first order of business was getting downstairs silently. That was easy enough, one simple shortcut and he was on the couch. But now he had to be very careful.

He knew, with absolute certainty, that Boss would have set traps and alarms around the fridge, and he had to figure them out and disarm them without setting off even one.

Well…when Red saw the kitchen he felt the magic begin to bead up on his skull. The whole kitchen was criss-crossed in tripwires, all attached to bells and cans and all manner of loud objects (including a dog?)

“okay, bud, just…take it slow. real easy now.” He knew it was dumb whispering to himself, but it made him feel better than the silence of the house at night.

His magic was weak, so he could only do quick bursts of it, but that was used to unhook all the trip wires and flick the off switches on the motion detectors. The dog…well, he sort of shortcutted it to the librarby. give the guys over there something to do.

Almost relaxing, he stepped into the kitchen and jumped when a deep roar sounded in the quiet room. Of course, from the burning pain that went with it, Red realized it was just his stomach again. “hey, we’re workin’ on it here,” he hissed, double checking the fridge before opening it up.

Of course Boss had tossed all his food, and there was only the ridiculous tupperware collection on his side and an empty chisp bag on Red’s. “damn. now what?”

He couldn’t touch the tupperware. That was the fastest way to death and he was not tempting it further. But he couldn’t starve either. He wasn’t going to be able to do anything pretty soon and with HP as low as his, no magic shielding meant certain doom, too.

He had no choice.

“okay, bud, we’re getting out of here,” he went to the cabinets and took every packet of instant oatmeal from the ‘emergency’ bucket. Then he high tailed it out of the house and into his lab. No more worries, no more Boss, no more starving.

But he had to have fuel to run his mind and body while he fixed that machine.

–

A kettle full of snow, more snow in buckets that would melt while he ate the first batch, and a small hot plate were the tools that were getting Red out.

As soon as the first bite of hot mush hit his mouth, he moaned. “stars, that’s good. dang it, he’s starved me to the point even this gummy mess is good.” Ugh, he was gonna miss Grillby’s when he left. Wherever he went, though, it had to better than here.

He really couldn’t help bolting down the first bowl, needing something inside him NOW. But it was still hot and filling and oh so good even plain as it was. A small laugh escaped as he felt it finally hit bottom, “geeze…maybe when this is all over i’ll open an oatmeal stand instead. definitely puts me in a good mood right now.”

But he went slower with the next bowl, and the next, working between spoonfuls and fiddling with the wires. Red’s whole system was coming back online after feeling tired and weak for so long, and he could finally feel confident again in his thoughts and actions. Food was important to him; he’d opened the illegal hot dog stand to try and make money, sure, but he also did it because he wanted to put out a quality product. Water sausages were criminally underused for being so tasty, and he made the best ones, and home made buns, too.

Thinking about how Boss disrespected his interest in food made him mad, but he shook the anger off in favor of appreciating his own work on the machine. Mechanical Engineering PhD paid off, finally. There was no part of this machine that wouldn’t work.

Except the operator, of course. Because he’d lost track of himself and there wasn’t a speck of food left in his little lab.

“o-oh gosh…” his hand went to his belly, wincing as a worrying gurgle echoed in the small room. “mmmn, yeah, that’s what i get.” Swallowing the thick remnants of oatmeal in his mouth, Red eased himself down into the beanbag chair he’d hidden away in here, the one place his tyrannical brother didn’t know about.

“easy, *hic* easy boy…” he began to pant as he felt how solid, yet small his stomach was under his shirt. “dang, he really did *hip* do a number on me. oooh, yeah….mmn…no more.” The membrane of magic had become too thin, where before it had been soft and thick. Now it was stretched painfully tight, and Red had no choice but to ride it out.

“okay,” he whined softly, pulling his jacket off gingerly to cool off his overheating bones, “s-so *hic* so we’ll wait this out and then….mmn, then leave. okay.” He could deal with this. This was good pain. This was going to turn into energy and magic he could protect himself with. So he was going to wait.

And then he was going to get out.


	3. Chapter 3

Boss had been causing havoc until Alphys chased him back through the portal that had opened in the Swap brothers’ basement.

A lot of property damage, but no dustings, thankfully.

That, of course, meant a magic proof lock was placed on the basement door and Alphys was looped into the timeline shenanigans that Papyrus had been trying not to reveal.  
But Red was okay, so the loss of some secrecy was worth it. He would do just about anything to protect Sans and Red.

Red and Sans tended to share a room, the shorter skeleton being a fastidious cleaner and Red being surprisingly good at keeping the room neat. Papyrus had asked about that, and instantly regretted it.

“boss would shove any trash or loose clothes through my eye sockets if I didn’t clean,” Red had answered.

His poor brother, abused by that cruel mirror of him. Papyrus was less than happy, and it got worse and worse every time some new atrocity came to light.

Starving Red for trying to make extra money by selling honest, good food, beating him for small mistakes or speaking “out of line”, strangling their version of the Helpful Dog in front of Red when he found Red had been feeding and caring for it….hideous things that just kept piling up the more Papyrus’ new brother opened up to him.

And he’d thought Sans needed his protection…it was nothing compared to Red.

Sans had stepped up amazingly since Boss had invaded. He was very serious with his training, more than he’d ever been before, and Alphys had finally let him into the guard proper. She’d asked why he ramped up his attacks so suddenly, and he answered with determined eyes, “I PROMISED RED I WOULD NEVER LET THAT AWFUL BOSS HURT HIM. I KEEP MY PROMISES, ESPECIALLY TO MY BROTHERS.”

Right now it was late, and Papyrus was just about to go to bed, but he was checking on Red and Sans first. Their room was clean as usual, with Red curled up in a tight wad of covers against the right hand wall, his bed the newest in the house and most comfortable. The perpetual tornado in the opposite corner from Red was spinning slowly, filled with various glowing stars and planets. Sans had already moved over from his rocket ship in the corner, telling Papyrus that Red’s daily nightmares had already started. Sans would comfort Red and sleep nearby till morning now. The calm soul of Sans eased Red’s damaged one enough to sleep after the terrible visions.

Papyrus CHECKed them both.

Sans (Swap)  
HP: 870  
He loves his family more than anything

Sans (Fell)  
HP: 1  
He’s dreaming sweet dreams for now

Good.

Papyrus shut the door and went to his own room, okay to sleep now. Red was okay and Sans was okay. He couldn’t ask for much more than that.


End file.
